Ruth Asawa
David Zwirner is pleased to announce the gallery's first exhibition dedicated to the work of Ruth Asawa since having announced the representation of the artist's estate earlier this year, which will take place at the 537 West 20th Street location. The exhibition will bring together a selection of key sculptures, paintings, and works on paper spanning Asawa's influential practice, as well as rare archival materials, including a group of vintage photographs of the artist and her work by Imogen Cunningham.
Born in rural California, Asawa began to make art while detained in internment camps for Japanese Americans at Santa Anita, California, and Rohwer, Arkansas, where she was sent with her family in 1942-1943. Following her release, she enrolled in Milwaukee State Teachers College, eventually making her way to Black Mountain College in North Carolina in 1946, then known for its progressive pedagogical methods and avant-garde aesthetic milieu. Asawa's time at Black Mountain proved formative in her development as an artist, and she was influenced there in particular by her teachers Josef Albers, Buckminster Fuller, and the mathematician Max Dehn.
Ruth Asawa, Continuous (S.340, Hanging, Miniature Single-Lobed, Three Layered Continuous Form within a Form), c. 1981-1982
Location
Dates
September 13—October 21, 2017
Artist
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (BMC.76, BMC laundry stamp), c. 1948-1949
Ink on paper
28 7/8 x 22 7/8 inches (73.3 x 58.1 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (SF.046b, Plain Potato Print in Blue and Orange), 1951-1952
Ink on paper
21 x 17 inches (53.3 x 43.2 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.693, Hanging Six Lobed, Two-Part, Complex Form within a Form with One Suspended Sphere in the Top Lobe), c. 1956
Hanging sculpture—brass and iron wire
72 1/4 x 15 x 15 inches (183.5 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.030, Hanging Eight Separate Cones Suspended Through Their Centers), c. 1952
Hanging sculpture—iron wire
76 x 24 x 24 inches (193 x 61 x 61 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.154, Hanging Nine-Lobed, Single-Layered Continuous Form), c. 1952
Hanging sculpture—Monel wire
111 x 15 x 15 inches (281.9 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.407, Hanging, Five-Lobed, Continuous Form within a Form with Two Spheres), c. 1952
Hanging sculpture—brass and steel wire
61 1/2 x 15 x 15 inches (156.2 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.563, Hanging Six Lobed Form with Two Interior Spheres), 1956
Hanging sculpture—enameled copper and iron wire
87 x 18 x 18 inches (221 x 45.7 x 45.7 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.310, Hanging Five-Lobed Continuous Form Within a Form with Spheres in the 2nd, 3rd, and Bottom Lobes), c. 1954
Hanging sculpture—copper and brass wire
64 x 15 x 15 inches (162.6 x 38.1 x 38.1 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.564, Hanging Sphere with a Suspended Interior Sphere), 1956
Hanging sculpture—brass and iron wire
8 1/2 x 10 x 10 inches (21.6 x 25.4 x 25.4 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.156, Hanging Sphere with a Suspended Interior Sphere), c. 1952
Hanging sculpture—copper and brass wire
13 x 18 x 18 1/2 inches (33 x 45.7 x 47 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.341, Hanging Two Interlocking Double Cones), c. 1950-1953
Hanging sculpture—iron wire
17 x 12 x 12 inches (43.2 x 30.5 x 30.5 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.322, Hanging Two Interlocking Cones), c. 1950-1953
Hanging sculpture—iron wire
13 x 18 x 17 inches (33 x 45.7 x 43.2 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.479, Hanging Tied Wire, Closed Center Double Sided Multibranched Form Based on Nature), 1963
Hanging sculpture—brass and copper wire with glass
11 x 12 x 11 inches (27.9 x 30.5 x 27.9 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.582, Hanging Sphere), c. 1956
Hanging sculpture—copper and brass wire
5 1/2 x 6 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches (14.0 x 16.5 x 16.5 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.598, Hanging Sphere), c. 1960-1969
Hanging sculpture—brass wire
6 x 5 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches (15.2 x 14 x 14 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.015, Hanging, Two Interlocked Spheres with a Small Sphere in the Center), c. 1980-1989
Hanging sculpture—oxidized copper wire
16 x 11 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches (40.6 x 29.2 x 29.2 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.788, Hanging Sphere), c. 1960-1969
Hanging sculpture—brass wire
3 1/2 x 3 x 3 inches (8.9 x 7.6 x 7.6 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.492, Hanging Sphere), c. 1950-1959
Hanging sculpture—gold-plated copper wire
5 x 5 1/4 x 5 1/4 inches (12.7 x 13.3 x 13.3 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Continuous (S.340, Hanging, Miniature Single-Lobed, Three Layered Continuous Form within a Form), c. 1981-19823 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 4
Hanging sculpture—gold-filled wire
3 1/2 x 4 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches (8.9 x 11.4 x 11.4 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.525, Hanging, Miniature Nine-Lobed Single Layer Continuous Form with Sphere in Top Lobe), c. 1980-1989
Hanging sculpture—copper wire
29 x 3 3/4 x 3 3/4 inches (73.7 x 9.5 x 9.5 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (SF.028a, Triangle Study), c. 1951-1952
Pencil on paper
17 5/8 x 15 1/8 inches (44.8 x 38.4 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.453, Hanging, Three Lobed, Three-Layered Continuous Form within a Form), c. 1957-1959
Hanging sculpture—iron wire
41 1/4 x 16 1/2 x 16 1/2 inches (104.1 x 41.9 x 41.9 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.065, Hanging Seven-Lobed, Multi-Layer Continuous Form within a Form), c. 1960-1963
Hanging sculpture—oxidized copper and brass wire
94 x 17 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches (238.8 x 44.5 x 44.5 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (BMC.95, In and Out), c. 1946-1949
Oil on Masonite
16 1/2 x 19 1/4 x 2 inches (41.9 x 48.9 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (BMC.92, In and Out), c. 1946-1949
Oil on paper
19 x 17 x 1 3/8 inches (48.3 x 43.2 x 3.5 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.752, Hanging, Single Lobe, Five-Layered, Continuous Form Within a Form), c. 1950-1959
Hanging sculpture—oxidized copper wire
23 x 23 x 23 inches (58.4 x 58.4 x 58.4 cm)
Untitled, 1952
Gelatin silver print
31 1/8 x 24 1/4 inches (79.1 x 61.6 cm)
Imogen Cunningham
Untitled, 1952
Gelatin silver print
16 1/4 x 12 3/4 inches (41.3 x 32.4 cm)
Imogen Cunningham
Ruth Asawa's Wire Baskets and Their Shadows, 1956
Gelatin silver print
16 7/8 x 14 7/8 inches (42.9 x 37.8 cm)
Imogen Cunningham
Untitled, 1963
Gelatin silver print
16 7/8 x 15 inches (42.9 x 38.1 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.383, Wall-Mounted Tied Wire, Open-Center, Six-Pointed Star, with Six Branches), c. 1967
Hanging sculpture—bronze wire
46 x 46 x 6 inches (116.8 x 116.8 x 15.2 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (SD.019, Tied wire sculpture drawing with five point star center and drops at the ends), n.d.
Ink on watercolor paper
22 3/4 x 27 3/4 inches (57.8 x 70.5 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.272, Hanging Seven-Lobed, Continuous Interwoven Form, with Spheres within Two Lobes), c. 1954
Hanging sculpture—copper and iron wire
111 x 14 x 14 inches (281.9 x 35.6 x 35.6 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.070, Wall-Mounted Tied Wire, Open-Center, Five-Branched Form Based on Nature), 1988
Hanging sculpture—brass wire
45 x 44 x 12 inches (114.3 x 111.8 x 30.5 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.535, Hanging Five Lobed Continuous Form within a Form and Two Interior Spheres and One Teardrop Form), 1951
Hanging sculpture—iron and brass wire
87 x 12 1/2 x 12 1/2 inches (221 x 31.8 x 31.8 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.335, Hanging 4 1/2 Open Hyperbolic Shapes that Penetrate Each Other), c. 1954
Hanging sculpture—iron wire and paint
95 1/2 x 20 x 20 inches (242.6 x 50.8 x 50.8 cm)
Ruth Asawa
Untitled (S.089, Hanging Asymmetrical Eleven Interlocked Bubbles), c. 1958
Hanging sculpture—galvanized steel, brass, and iron wire
26 x 22 x 17 inches (66.0 x 55.9 x 43.2 cm)